Artificer: The school of artifice is composed of spells that store or channel magical
energy through items carried by the wizard. In effect, the artificer is a wizard
who creates temporary magical items for his own use. The advantages of this
thaumaturgical method lie in the wizard’s ability to increase his spell power by
carrying extra spells in various magical items and to unleash powerful
enchantments with a single command word. A wizard must have an Intelligence
(Intelligence/Knowledge) of 12 and a Constitution of 15 (Constitution/ Health) in order to
choose this specialty. The school of artifice is opposed by the school of
necromancy and those spells in the school of enchantment/charm which affect living
beings.
Like the alchemist, the artificer must maintain a well-equipped laboratory and
workshop. A 1st-level artificer begins play with a suitable facility in his
base of operations. Building a new laboratory costs at least 1,000 gp per
character level, and existing laboratories cost 50 gp per level to maintain each
month. An artificer without a laboratory loses access to the bonus spell provided by
specialization, and can’t conduct research, make magical items, or add new
spells to his spell book.
Artificers have the normal benefits and restrictions of specialist wizards,
but have no saving throw modifiers and impose no saving throw penalties on the
targets of their spells. At 4th level, the artificer gains the ability to store spells in prepared items, saving his memorization slots for other spells. Once placed
in an item, a stored spell may be indefinitely retained for ready casting. The
spell to be stored must be one which the wizard knows and can cast; at any
given time, a wizard may have no more total spell levels stored than his own
character level, so a 5th-level artificer could store up to five levels of spells.
Preparing an item to receive one stored spell requires one uninterrupted week
of work, and the actual process of casting the spell into the item requires one
day and 500 gp per level of the spell. The item must be of the finest
workmanship, worth at least 100 gp; after the spell it holds has been discharged, the
artificer can re-enchant it. Only the artificer may release the stored spell,
with a casting time of 1; in all other respects the spell is treated as if the
artificer had cast it normally. Also, an item can only contain one spell at a
time. Any attempt to cast another spell into the item will simply replace the
current spell. In effect, this ability allows the artificer to create one-shot
magical items such as a ring enchanted with feather fall or a cloak prepared with protection from normal missiles.
At 7th level, the artificer may create a temporary magical item. Any magical item in the DMG not specifically restricted to nonwizards is allowed, but the item will
function only for the artificer. This is a special ability unrelated to the enchant an item spell. First, the artificer must successfully research the item creation
process, taking one week per 500 XP value of the item and spending at least 100 gp
per week. This time is halved if the artificer has a sample of the item to copy
or if he succeeds in a contact other plane, legend lore, or other research spell. The artificer must pass a learn spells check to
succeed and may never know the processes for more magical items than his maximum
number of spells per level. Actually building and enchanting the item requires
half the research time and 2d6 x 100 gp, plus the cost of the item itself. Fine
materials must be used, but rare and exotic materials and processes aren’t
necessary for temporary items (see Chapter 7 ). After completing the work, the artificer must pass another learn spells
check to successfully enchant the temporary item.
A temporary item lasts 1d6 days, plus one day per level of the artificer. Once
the enchantment fades, the item can be re-enchanted with one uninterrupted
week of work, the expenditure of 2d6 x 100 gp, and another learn spells check. If
the temporary item normally possesses charges, the artificer automatically
places one charge per level into the item when creating it.
Selthos the wizard desires a carpet of flying, since he wishes to investigate an old tower perched high on an inaccessible
peak. Looking up the carpet’s XP value (7,500 XP), the player realizes that it
will take 15 weeks just to research the item! Selthos decides that a carpet of
flying is too formidable a challenge and searches for a cheaper alternative.
Investigating his alternatives, he decides that a cloak of the bat (1,500 XP) is
a much more palatable option.
Selthos begins his research, working for three weeks and spending a total of
1,000 gp (an arbitrary amount set by the DM; he would have had to spend at
least 300 gp, or 100 per week). Fortunately, he succeeds in the learn spells
check, and his research is successful—from now on, Selthos can produce a cloak of the bat anytime he desires, without repeating the research.
Actually making the cloak requires one week and four days (half the research
time) and 2d6 x 100 gp, plus the cost of the cloak. The DM decides that a
suitable cloak costs 100 gp (the minimum allowed, but it’s only an article of
clothing), and rolls 700 gp for the cost of the enchantment. Again, Selthos succeeds
in a learn spells check, so he now possesses a cloak of the bat that will last for 1d6 days, plus one day per level. With some urgency, he
sets off at once to investigate the tower before his enchantment fades!
Several months later, Selthos decides that he needs his cloak again. He can
re-enchant the cloak with one week of work, another 2d6 x 100 gp, and a learn
spells check.
Artificers may create permanent magical items using the normal magical item
creation rules and the enchant an item spell when they reach the appropriate levels. (If an artificer creates a true
magical item he once made a temporary version of, his research time and expense
is reduced to its minimum value—see Chapter 7 .) Artificers gain a +10% bonus to their chance to successfully enchant items.
In addition, artificers have a 20% chance at 1st level to identify the general
purpose and function of any magical item simply by examining it for one full
turn. This is similar to the bard’s ability, but is based on the artificer’s
ability to analyze the construction and enchantments on the item, not the item’s
historical significance. This chance increases by 5% per level, so a 5th-level
artificer can identify items with a 40% chance of success.
While artificers are fairly weak at first, once they reach middle levels they
can quickly become some of the most useful and powerful wizards in the game.
The DM should always consider the artificer’s proposed item research and
construction very carefully; any item that the DM feels is too powerful or
out-of-character can be disallowed. In particular, items with absorption or negation powers should be considered very carefully—these can be very unbalancing in a
game.
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